So I was sitting at work and feeling Kind of hungry but not for a meal just a snack. I nuked a bag of popcorn but then thought....man the same old popcorn again. So I went searching through the small list of pantry supplies we have here and one the popcorn was finished popping I added fresh ground black pepper and tabasco sauce and shook it around. I now have it in a bowl and it really is something different and quite good.

Which brings me to the question in mind. What does evryone do to make the same old boring popcorn more exciting?

I've tried the hot sauce before. Didn't like the way it made the kernels mushy.

Parmasian is ok. Throwing in a handful of M&Ms is really good. Sometimes a light sprinkle of cayanne or a bit of cinnamon sugar. Lately I've picked up seasonings from Capt. Kernal or Capt. popcorn (something like that). I like their ranch, bbq, and cajun in that order.

One of my coworkers has some white cheddar powder that we sprinkle on microwaved popcorn. It's pretty good.

I used to work for a woman who would microwave a bag of popcorn. She would then melt an entire stick of margarine and shake the two in this big Tupperware container. Then she would add salt. It was disgusting. It looked like popcorn soup. Then, she would wash it all down with a Diet Coke spiked with Captain Morgan's rum. She thought we didn't know. She had the bottle stashed in a filing cabinet. She would open the Diet Coke and pour half out and refill with the rum.

I just tried the new Orville Redenbacher's Buttered Salt and Cracked Pepper. It was quite good. I would buy it again.

I wish they'd make that stuff salt free, myself. Much of what I would add already has salt. Grated cheese of any stripe, the stuff that comes with a box of Mac~&~Cheese, brown sugar (perhaps white sugar if I could get it to caramelize somehow) for starters. Whenever I try to add something, the salt takes over and that's nauseating.

I've stopped buying the microwave stuff. I get jiffy pop and pop it on top of my stove. It's a million times better. I can't go back to microwave popcorn. There's a particular taste that I've grown to loathe.

I'm planning on getting an air popper soon. Real kernels are just better.

What we do at work is eyeball some popcorn into a brown lunch size paper bag, a drizzle of olive oil, fold the top, staple it, put it the microwave and pop until it starts to slow down, remove it put it in a bowl and season however.

I don't care for the microwaved pop corn. I use a heavy boiler, barely cover the bottom with oil, add three kernels of corn and shake around a little (the pan!) When those three have popped, I add the rest of the corn, cover and pop. Great pop corn with big fluffy kernels. Then add whatever strikes your fancy.

Something about heating the oil until three kernels pop seems to make the rest of the corn pop better.

What we do at work is eyeball some popcorn into a brown lunch size paper bag, a drizzle of olive oil, fold the top, staple it, put it the microwave and pop until it starts to slow down, remove it put it in a bowl and season however.

What we do at work is eyeball some popcorn into a brown lunch size paper bag, a drizzle of olive oil, fold the top, staple it, put it the microwave and pop until it starts to slow down, remove it put it in a bowl and season however.

A staple? Doesn't it spark in the microwave?

We put one staple at each end of the bag, with teh staple being flat it doesn't "arc". Alton did it on good eats.